Greetings everyone! This is your moderator needing some opinions on wheel pants on my Highlander/Escapade. Here is a picture of the plane. The question is, do you think they do any good at all for cruise speed. I put them on to see if they would give me 5+ mph more but over time not sure that has happened. I know they look "speedy" but the cost in extra weight may offset any gains in less drag. Not sure our planes go fast enough to get any benefit. It is a chore to clean them after flight, add air to the tires when needed and doing a complete pre-flight check on them. They are not easy to put on and take off so I really don't want to take them off and put them back on again to judge the difference. I would rather hear from each of you who know more about the drag ratios. Thanks everyone!Dennis

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Live as though you were going to die tomorrow, learn as though you were going to live forever...

Drag reduction is drag reduction. Granted, reducing drag is more obvious on faster aircraft, but having a cleaner airframe on any aircraft will provide not only more speed overall, but also better climb and fuel efficiency. And I just can't imagine the little weight increase of those pants would make much difference either, as a Highlander will fly just great with the addition of heavy bush tires, heavy wheel skis, and even 250 lb amphib floats.

Obviously there are those pesky issues of cleaning and access to valve stems, etc. But after all the effort you went to fitting wheel pants on your plane I can't personally see any reason to remove them unless you decided to start booney bashing, as then the pants are likely to get tore up. And if you decide to start booney bashing, I personally think putting big tires on a trike will look funny and you're likely to get a lot of ribbing from the hairy-chested-bush-pilot types

And then there's the other side of the argument, we already have a bunch of big tired Highlanders and Super STOLS out there to represent that market. Your plane is unique and interesting, and I especially like how you use it to get around. I have many times shown people your posts as not everyone wants to booney bash, many want to travel and many don't want to learn a taildragger.

So overall I really like the fact that your plane is very different than the rest of the fleet, and I really like how it represents another use for the design. Plus, I think it's cool

Thanks everyone. You know sometimes you just get a wild thought and if you are lucky you wait a bit before acting on it. I believe you are right, I will leave them on the plane. They do look good if I do say so myself. SORRY JOHNNY!!! HAHAHAHAHAHADennis

Live as though you were going to die tomorrow, learn as though you were going to live forever...

I have had the molds and brackets done for the mains for a few years. I have started on the brackets for the nose, which will lead me to the mold for the nose. Aftertweaking my prop yesterday, it has motivated me to get them finished. It will make for a nice winterproject.

I am going to keep the lower edge high enough to access the valve stems.

I'm glad you are keeping them on.

John

There are many things that happen really fast when you are flying an airplane. There is no sense in rushing any of the others.